GST & BAS (Australia / New Zealand)

How 5-by-5 handles GST for Australian and New Zealand groups — inclusive pricing, capital vs non-capital purchases, and the built-in BAS summary that gives you 1A, 1B, and the net figure to lodge.

Who this is for

This page applies only to groups whose Country is set to Australia or New Zealand. If your group is in the United States, you’re using sales tax instead — see Settings and Finances. US sales-tax controls are hidden automatically for AU/NZ groups, and vice versa.

Country is read-only: it’s set once during onboarding and isn’t self-service editable afterward on either mobile or web (see Settings → Subscription) — contact support@blueskyapplications.com if your group should be AU/NZ and isn’t showing GST features.

5-by-5 handles GST the Australian/New Zealand way: tax-inclusive, with the emphasis on the credits you claim back on purchases. It is a bookkeeping aid, not tax advice — always have your accountant confirm the figures before you lodge.

The one idea that makes GST different from US sales tax

US sales tax is added on top of a price. Australian and New Zealand GST is already inside the price — every dollar you charge or spend has a GST slice baked in. So GST is never a separate line added to a member’s bill; it’s a portion carved out of the total.

The GST hiding inside a gross amount is:

Australia (10%) — divide the total by 11
New Zealand (15%) — the total × 3 ÷ 23

So a $110 AUD charge contains $10 of GST; a $220 purchase contains $20 you can claim back. 5-by-5 does this arithmetic for you everywhere.

GST on member billing

By default, AU/NZ groups treat their member charges (hourly rates, fixed monthly costs, adjustments) as GST-inclusive taxable supplies — i.e. the group is charging GST to its members and must remit it. This is controlled by a single switch:

Settings → Billing & Rates → “Charge GST on member billing.”

On (default) — the GST portion of the money members pay you is reported as GST on sales (1A) on your BAS.
Off — member billing is treated as out of scope (1A = 0). Only the GST credits on your purchases (1B) are reported. Turn this off only if your accountant treats member contributions as not being a taxable supply (some cost-sharing partnerships qualify).

Because GST is inclusive, members don’t see a separate “GST” line added to their total — the amount they’re billed already includes it. On invoices and in the mobile app, the tax line simply reads GST rather than Sales Tax.

Tagging purchases: capital vs non-capital

Most of the GST story for an aircraft group is the credits you claim back on what you spend. The BAS splits those purchases into two buckets, and 5-by-5 asks you which one each expense is when you add it.

On the Add / Edit Expense modal there’s a capital purchase checkbox:

Tick only for asset purchases — e.g. the aircraft itself, engine overhaul, avionics install, interior upgrade, etc.

Ticked → G10 (capital purchases) — big-ticket assets.
Unticked → G11 (non-capital purchases) — everyday running costs: fuel, hangar, insurance, consumables, routine maintenance.

Both still generate a GST credit (1B); the capital/non-capital split is just how the ATO wants them reported. When in doubt, leave it unticked — most expenses are non-capital.

Tagging purchases: GST treatment

Right below the capital checkbox, every expense also has a GST treatment dropdown — this controls whether the purchase generates a GST credit at all:

Standard GST (default) — the normal case. Most purchases (fuel, hangar, maintenance, parts) carry GST and contribute to your 1B credit.
GST-free — for the small set of purchases that don’t carry GST at all (some government charges, certain exports). Contributes nothing to 1B.
Input-taxed — for things like bank fees and interest, which the ATO treats specially. Also contributes nothing to 1B.

Leave this on Standard GST unless you specifically know a purchase falls into one of the other two categories — most flying-club expenses do carry standard GST.

The BAS summary report

From the Finances area, AU/NZ groups get a GST / BAS Summary report (this replaces the US “Sales Tax Report”). Pick a date range — typically your BAS quarter — and it produces the figures you lodge.

At the top, the bottom line in three numbers:

	BAS label	What it is
GST collected	1A	GST inside the payments members made in the period
GST paid	1B	GST inside the purchases you recorded in the period
Net	1A − 1B	What you owe the ATO — or, if negative, what the ATO refunds you

For an aircraft group, the net is often a refund: purchases (fuel, hangar, maintenance, the occasional big capital item) usually carry more GST than the modest GST collected on member contributions. That’s expected.

Below the headline, the full BAS breakdown:

G1 — Total sales (incl. GST)
1A — GST on sales
G10 — Capital purchases (incl. GST)
G11 — Non-capital purchases (incl. GST)
1B — GST on purchases
Net (1A − 1B) — marked Refund or Payable

Cash basis

The report is prepared on a cash basis — GST is counted when the money actually moves, not when a bill is raised:

1A comes from member payments received in the period (not bills merely posted). A member who pays three months of dues in one hit contributes GST in the month they paid.
1B comes from the expenses dated in the period.

If your accountant lodges on an accruals basis, treat these numbers as a close guide and reconcile against your own records.

Purchase detail + exporting

Under the summary is a line-by-line purchase table — every expense feeding G10 / G11 / 1B, with its capital/non-capital tag and the GST derived from each — so you (or your accountant) can trace every dollar.

Two export options:

PDF — a clean printable copy of the summary for your records or your accountant.
CSV — the BAS totals plus the full purchase detail, for import into your accounting software or a spreadsheet.

Quick checklist for a clean BAS

Record every group expense for the period, and tick the capital box on any asset purchases.
Make sure member payments are entered in the ledger as they’re received (bank sync via Bank Integration helps here).
Open the GST / BAS Summary, set the range to your BAS period.
Review the purchase detail for anything mis-tagged.
Export the PDF/CSV and hand it to your accountant to lodge.

Finances — the billing workspace the GST figures draw from
Settings — where the “Charge GST on member billing” switch lives
Importing Data — bringing historical ledger + expenses in